The Artsakh Culture and Tourism Development Agency announced on its Facebook account that 25 monuments and busts erected in Khankendi, located in Nagorno-Karabakh (known as Artsakh by Armenians), for heroes of the Great Patriotic War and other prominent figures have been demolished.
Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Aykhan Hajizada stated that the bust of the painter of Armenian origin, Ivan Aivazovsky (Hovhannes Ayvazyan), was “illegally placed” in the region by Russian peacekeeping forces without the permission of the Azerbaijani side.
The dismantled monuments include those of military figures such as Marshal Hovhannes Bagramyan, Admiral Ivan Isakov, and pilot Nelson Stepanyan, as well as cultural figures like musician Genrikh Barkhudaryan, poet and writer Hovhannes Tumanyan, and painter Ivan Aivazovsky.
Additionally, monuments to Bolsheviks and revolutionaries, including Stepan Shaumyan and Aleksandr Myasnikyan, as well as statues of Nagorno-Karabakh’s military leaders like Khristofor Ivanyan and Anatoliy Zinevich, were also noted to have been removed.
The statement adds that while the official fate of the sculptures has not yet been clarified, considering Azerbaijan’s ongoing policy of erasing Armenian cultural heritage, it is highly likely that the statues have been permanently destroyed.
The fate of these sculptures, created by artists including Russian masters, is unknown, with the agency suggesting they may have been completely destroyed.
Source: panarmenian.net, harici.com.tr
